‘A lion in the ring, but the sweetest horse’: Hickstead Derby winner bows out for happy retirement

The 2019 Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby winner has been retired sound, happy and still at the top of his game, after a joint win in the Dublin Horse Show Defender puissance.

Mikey Pender and Hearton Du Bois Halleux shared the win with Joe Trunkfield and Cruze on 17 August, and Mikey announced that the Nonstop stallion would bow out of competition aged 17.

Mikey told H&H the idea of retiring “Harold” had been “half in the back of my mind”.

“And there was no better way to do it,” he said. “I wanted to do it when he was still healthy and in good form, and that felt like the perfect time.”

Mikey took on Paul van den Bosch’s stallion in 2018, just over a year before their famous Hickstead win, when Mikey at 19 became the youngest ever winner of the class. They also won eight puissances together, including three at Dublin.

“It’s so special [winning on home soil] and he’s done it three times; it’s amazing what he’s done,” Mikey said, adding that he had no idea when he first took the reins how much Harold would achieve.

“I had to try to work out the controls and it took a bit of time to get to know him, and for him to get to know me. But when it clicked, we got on very good and it all went from there.

“There were a good few highlights but I think in one year we won Hickstead, Dublin, Olympia and Bolesworth and that’s unreal.”

Mikey said Harold was “like a bit of a lion” in the ring.

“But he was the sweetest horse in the stable,” he said. “Anyone could ride him at home, he’s so kind-natured. I wanted him to have a good retirement, I didn’t want to push it so it felt very right to do it.

“He’ll stay with me, at home in his field, close to my house, so I can still see him as much as possible.”

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